The Complex | PC Review

That Full Motion Video (FMV) games can be hit and miss is something I explained in my review of She Sees Red in February of this year. This particular adventure game sub-genre has a ton of potential. That game, to me, was proof that developers were taking it seriously again, and not using it as an excuse to show some female flesh (I’m looking at you, Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties), or use a famous actor to trick people into buying your product (that’s you, Tender Loving Care). With The Complex, Wales Interactive gives us a brand new entry into the FMV genre; one that is eerily current too, for the COVID-19 society that we’re in right now.

Life Or Death Choices

In The Complex, you play Dr. Amy Tenant (Michelle Mylett), an expert scientist in the field of nanocell technology. After having done field work in the totalitarian state of Kindar, she went to work in London for Nathalie Kensington (Kate Dickie, of Game of Thrones fame), at her research facility nicknamed The Complex. When London gets hit by a bio-attack, she’s called in to assist. Needless to say, the situation is way more complicated than it at first appears to be, and when her past catches up with her, Dr. Tenant has to make some very difficult life or death choices. Choices that you as the player will make for her.

High FMV Entertainment

An FMV game is basically an interactive movie, a sort of audiovisual choose-your-own-adventure experience. We see a scene play out, and it ends on the player having to make a choice. Will she answer amicably or harsh? Will she use force or guile? Will she choose the man or the woman to survive? And sometimes not choosing is also a choice. You have to be careful with this and pay attention, because you have only 15 seconds to make that choice. Once you’ve made your decision, the game moves on, and you see the next scene with the result of your choices. While this may not sound very riveting on paper, I can tell you that it’s quite the experience when it’s done well. 

Hollywood Production Values

The Complex has great production values. Seriously, this game looks like a genuine BBC or Hollywood production. I especially liked the many helicopter shots of London and the Complex itself. The acting is very solid, the score is good, and the story is compelling, especially when played in the current quarantined state of mind. If you think you recognize an actor, but have no idea from where? Check out the game’s IMDb page here. I was pleasantly surprised by The Complex, even with the trailer already looking very good.

Relationship Status

One aspect that I really liked in The Complex was that at the end of the game you would get an overview of yourself and the important relationships in the game, and how your decisions affected that. You get a personality assessment of Amy, telling you that she was, for instance, an altruistic person. This is broken down in 5 aspects: Honesty, Bravery, Curiosity, Intelligence, and Sensitivity. You also see the portraits of the 9 most important relationships in the game, with a percentage. The percentage shows how good the relationship was, and whether they survived or not. 

Multiple Endings

The fun of FMV games is that you have to play it multiple times to find all the endings and different scenes. The fun is in one playthrough playing it very straight, and then in a different one being a total dick to people to see what that gives you. My first playthrough took me about 80 minutes, but the second one was a lot faster, as I could skip some scenes that I had already played through. There are a few moments where it doesn’t seem like your choice made a difference, as they played out the same in my playthroughs, but these moments are in the minority. The ending was so different from the first ending I got, it really felt as a reward for making those different choices.

The End Result

The final thing this previously mentioned screen shows is the number of endings and scenes found, and the amount of decisions made, which is always interesting to know. The Complex has a total of 9 endings and 200 scenes to discover. This screen is also accessible during the game, but you only get the complete picture at the end. I thought this was a really novel approach for an FMV game. 

Conclusion

I was very impressed by the quality of this game, and I’m glad that this is another successful entry in the FMV subgenre. The Complex really looks and feels like an interactive movie, which was great to play. Multiple replays and different choices are properly rewarded, and the game has a very good length. This makes it more appealing to play it multiple times. Wales Interactive can be very proud of their achievement. Wales Interactive gives us a slice of high FMV entertainment here. And I will now go back to The Complex to find another ending.

This review is based on a PC review copy of The Complex provided by Wales Interactive for review purposes. The game is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.